The Beaches of Sanya

I don't claim to understand the Chinese language, but normally it appears to have some logic to it.  For example, the island "Hainan" comes from the Chinese words Hai (海= Ocean) and Nan (南=South).  Since it's an island in the ocean off the South of China, this seems to make a lot of sense.

"Sanya", on the other hand, does not make much sense.  It is spelled using the Chinese words San (三, or three) and Ya (亚, which all the dictionaries translate as "Asia").  "Three Asias" doesn't make much sense to me.   A tourist brochure said it really means "land splitted by three rivers", because there are three rivers that flow into the sea near the city.   That makes a little more sense, so I'll trust the guidebook on this one.

The tourist-friendly geography of Sanya is the result of the rivers coming to the sea and each creating a bay of some sort.  Sanya claims to have 5 separate bays along it's shoreline, each with a sandy beach, and each with a different character.   During our visit, we spents some time at 3 out of the 5.  Sanya Bay, Da Dong Hai, and Yalong Bay.

Sanya Bay bay borders the main city of Sanya - the part of the city where local people live and work.  This beach is the least exclusive and least touristic.   It serves a bit as the city park, where the citizens of Sanya come in the morning and the evening to walk and swim and exercise and play music and dance.  To a non-Chinese person, this might actually be the most interesting beach.

DaDongHai is more for the tourist.  The beach is public, but it has better sand, better views, and a number of big hotels spilling guests out onto it.  It has quite a few more Westerners lying around, most of them Russian.  It has quite a few more beach bars and restaurants to cater to them.

Yalong Bay is similar to Da Dong Hai in the quality of sand and water.  (In the photos above, the water in the last two pictures may look more blue....but that is because the skies were less overcast on the days they were taken.  It takes a blue sky to make blue water.)  However, much of Yalong Bay's beachfront has been subdivided into private sections...carved up by big resort hotels that came to Hainan in the last few years.  It's a great deal if you're staying at one of those resort hotels.   And if not, there is a public section of Yalong Bay that offers snorkeling, diving, boating, jet skis, glass bottom boats, and just about every other conceivable means of separating tourists from their money.